Cursed Lineage
by penpaninuSessh
Summary: A look at Sango and Miroku and how it could have ended. An idea I've had for awhile now.


Author's Disclaimer: I do not own any characters belonging to Inuyasha. They are the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Media and others!

Authors Note: Wrote this one on a road trip. I found it in the back of my diary recently so here you go! I've never done a solely Miroku/Sango fic, although I've had them paired up behind Inuyasha and Kagome in my other fics. This one is mainly about them and written after seeing Inuyasha: Final Act. Dedicated to my wifey Skye and the most notorious of Yasha writers, Inugrrl :P

"Cursed Lineage"

A Sango and Miroku tale

By penpaninu

The pain wracked him day and night now. While Miroku could still fight, run as fast as Inuyasha and hold his own, the deadly effects of miasma poison coursed steadily through his veins. There was not a battle in which he could afford not to use the Wind Tunnel, and each day he had to use it, he felt weaker yet.

Sango, precious Sango, was worried about him. She showed more of her concern as he grew less lecherous toward other women and instead focused his deep eyes upon her. While a woman grown, she was still a maid and intended to be until the right moment came; or until Miroku made himself available to her alone. As the latter seemed to be culminating to a neutral footing, their lifestyle was anything but accommodating. Hunting a demonic demi-god was hazardous at best; exhausting at worst. With their routine of travel and camp-out, hunt and search, Sango was always at his side. Even when they found time to recoup their strength in a passing village, she didn't stray to seek her own amusement and Miroku had as good an inkling as any that Sango had chosen him as her intended partner.

Kagome hinted as much, for the sake of her friend, and Inuyasha had let him in on more during a very candid conversation while the girls were bathing. But while his half-demon friend turned hopeful eyes to Kagome secretly, Miroku knew his problem was far more dire.

They all lived under fear of death. By combat, infection from wounds, or other feudal woes. Bandit attack, demon battle…..poison. Miroku flexed his right fingers, feeling the fabric of cloth smooth tightly over his cursed palm. His beads jangled. While he felt his mortality tighten a deadly noose with each passing day, he felt the burning need to live….to show Sango how he felt and to leave some part of him behind. Who didn't want to secure the fact they had been alive; that their life meant _something_?

"Keh! Sango's been waiting for some special attention awhile now. You do know she wants to be your mate, doncha?" Inuyasha flopped onto his back and hooked an ankle over his knee. Miroku looked down at his hands pressed over his knees.

"That is beside the point, Inuyasha. Unless we defeat Naraku quickly, I could die." Silently, Miroku pulled his robe sleeve up to the elbow. Inuyasha's golden eyes took in the slashes of purple bruising his pale skin.

"Miroku….I know you don't have much time… but I promise I will defeat Naraku. I have to avenge Kikyo… and I want to…."

Kagome's idle chatter filled the air as she crested the hill with Sango. The girls were beautiful as they talked and giggled together. Inuyasha blinked hard and he sat up, gaping silently at his heart's desire. Miroku smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"You have your own affairs to settle out. Be kind to Kagome-san," he advised. Inuyasha glared at him.

"Look whose fit for romantic advice! Stop hurting Sango and just….. extend yourself to her!"

"I wish it were that easy…" Miroku murmured.

"Inuyasha! Miroku-sama! The villagers gave us fish and vegetables for our meal," Kagome called.

Sango was more silent as she merely smiled at Miroku. The monk found the shared silence mutual and nodded as she tucked her legs under herself and sat beside him.

While they were almost there, he could ignore his dwindling mortality awhile longer. Just a few more days…. Kami-sama, if you ever listened to a prayer before…. A few more days….

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"Hoshi-sama! Let me see it!" Sango, clad in her skin-tight battle armor, knelt before a grimacing Miroku and attempted to peer under his sleeve at his wound. Miroku grit his teeth and began to sweat as he struggled against her. Sango was very strong. Her smooth palms, roughened by leather guard straps, peeled his voluminous sleeve up over his wrist covering. The beads held; the Wind Tunnel was sealed.

But the bruises of purple dotting his arm made her gasp.

"Hoshi-sama! This is terrible! You wouldn't tell me how bad it was?" Anguish flooded Sango's eyes and despair filled her heart.

"I couldn't let you know…" Miroku's eyes were naked with emotion. He reached his unblemished hand to Sango, faltered.

'I couldn't let you worry….. '

"Hoshi-sama…." Sango, her throat bare beneath her partially undone collar, was beautiful and deathly afraid. Miroku pushed his sleeve low and for a long time, silence reigned between the lone pair, alone in the countryside.

It was going to be a long night.

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Laying in his bed roll and watched the stars, Miroku could almost hear the poison bubbling through his veins. A pang of dizziness clung heavy and Miroku closed his eyes. Riding the sensation, he reopened his eyes. Sango was changing carefully beside him, her long hair swept over one bare shoulder. Her shoulders bared to his sharp eyes a moment longer, Sango slipped into her kimono and tied it loosely. She seemed to be grappling with a weighty decision with herself.

Miroku felt warmth flood through his middle and press lower as once again, he regarded his lovely companion. They fought and spoke together like accomplished partners and adults but in the dark of night…. Need made him swell with desire to hold her and she had never been held as a grown woman.

When alone or with Kagome and Inuyasha and Shippou, they slept easily as a group. So the feel of Sango's bare legs sliding against his bare shins pushing his robe up made him yelp with surprise.

"Sango!"

Sango pressed her cheek against his robe front and she flushed. "I apologize if this is forward, Hoshi-sama… but I can't stop thinking…"

"Sango…." Miroku hesitated only a moment but he wasn't going to let an easy moment to ease into something else slide by. He wrapped his arms around her, welcoming her into his bed roll.

"Is this okay?" Sango shifted, trying to get comfortable. Kirara mewed inquisitively when Miroku tilted her chin up.

Intimacy may be clichéd in some moments or quick and easy the next… but has one ever experienced a perfect moment, where skin feels warm and good against one's own, where hands cradle a moment frozen in memory and the crux of one's life is reached in mutual reciprocation?

Miroku held Sango tightly after, partially satiated. His finishings traced Sango's thighs along with her maiden's blood; he had held back a lot of sharp desire, knowing harsh thrusts would have torn her harder than he needed to.

And it had hurt her. But there was a new look in her eyes. An understanding to something more of him; a want to fall into their mutual desire.

There wasn't time to life sometimes. You have to reach out and touch it.

Or the moment could pass you by forever.

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Inuyasha and Kagome knew something had changed between them when next they joined up. Fortunately, they didn't bring it up. Kagome must have threatened Inuyasha with pain of death if he had. It didn't stop him from giving Miroku a laschivous wink, and Kagome had smiled with Sango.

Only Shippou commented on the change of scent that spiked between Sango and Miroku, but that ended quickly when Inuyasha bopped him in the head. Shippou wailed, Kagome roared, and that was the end of that discussion.

And the physical encounters grew more heated and passionate after each battle. Sango didn't have to ask Miroku to know his arm throbbed more with each passing day; so too did their passion increase. Discreetly, they camped apart from Inuyasha and Kagome and if the two took the opportunity to dvelve down that road , they didn't know for as time slowly ventured onward, monk and slayer savored each other's touch.

When Sango slept, Miroku studied his wrapped wrist. He could feel the wind tunnel nibbling at the skin of his palm and elbow. He had seen his own father sucked away into the pit of his own void. The sensation had to have started creeping up just like this…..Just like Father!

A spasm of pain wracked all the way up Miroku's arm to his shoulder. He clutched his arm and turned to watch his would-be wife. Sango slept contently, long limbs covered with his robe. Naked, he sat beneath the watching stars. There was so little of his time left…. Who would help Inuyasha, protect Kagome-san, watch over Shippou…..who would take care of his Sango?

Miroku bent his head to his palm, tears dotting his fingers. 'Father, please… was it this hard for you?'

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Life went on as it ever did, until it happened. When it did finally happen, it was as suddenly and quietly as a summer storm. One moment Miroku had been accepting a bowl of rice from Kagome, the next…he couldn't breathe.

As Inuyasha and Shippou scented the air, swiveling their heads this way and that, Sango's eyes flooded with naked fear. And then they all heard the roar.

"Miroku-sama!"

"Miroku!" Inuyasha reached for him. Miroku slapped him away and leapt to his feet. Shippou cried as Sango's voice cracked the air.

"MIROKU!"

But Miroku had begun to run; he had to put distance between them all, he had to get as far away as he could before…

As his robes fluttered up, his tail wrenched free and his hair blew askew. Miroku's eyes met Sango's through his fluttering bangs as the void opened from his palm.

Only an instant did their eyes lock. Then the ground around Miroku's feet imploded. A circle of black erupted and pulled Miroku's flailing limbs down….

A blast of air knocked everyone down. When the winds subsided and tearful eyes were opened, a crater was all that was left of a human man.

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The days and weeks that followed were eternal in their stretch of agony. Weeks yawned into months, months into several months. The world seemed to exist in a semblance of normalcy until….

"Come on!" two village girls ran down the path, all smiles and giggles. They stopped before a hut where all the commotion today was centered on. Women bustled to and fro, carrying buckets of water, robes and linen. One of them shooed the girls away. They backed up almost into Lady Kaede. The massive priestess smiled down at the curious girls but pushed past them without answering their questions.

"But we wanna see the baby!" one of the girls protested. Kagome jogged past, her arms laden with blankets.

"You two can see the baby later. Just let us work here!" she said. Inuyasha sauntered around the corner, his ears laid flat against his head.

"It's such a magical time," he winced, his mind bleeding at what Sango was going through. He made a face and the girls squealed and ran away.

Inside the hut, Kaede smiled down at the woman spread in pain. Whines and grunts erupted from her upturned throat as Kaede carefully lowered herself to her knees and gripped the woman's hand.

"Push, dear. You can do it… hold onto me," Kaede urged.

Sango, her belly as round as the moon, lay panting in a pool of her own sweat. She clung to the priestess' hand as the midwife reached between her open thighs. Kagome pushed inside the hut and bravely took Sango's other hand.

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, Sango's efforts were rewarded with the birth of her child. Inuyasha smiled outside when he heard the squall. Instantly, he wondered if this was how he would feel if Kagome ever…

Kagome held Sango propped against her and wiped her sweaty hair back. The demon slayer's eyes opened as the midwife laid the child in her arms. The umbilical cord still trailed down the body, fat and white as a slug. Blood and fluid clung to the tiny torso and Kaede clucked gently, trying to wipe him clean. Sango held her son close and inspected him.

Bright shiny eyes, pale skin, fluffy black hair…. Something caught Sango's eyes and she pried open one of the child's clenched hands.

A small dark circle lay embedded in the tiny palm. Sango gaped and Kagome jerked upright. Kaede knelt closer to look and she and Kagome watched each other in silent terror.

The curse had passed on yet again. Sango pressed her son's fist closed and cried.

The End

End Note: I've been meaning to write this alternate ending for a while. The idea for this story was justified with the ending written for Sango and Miroku at the end of Inuyasha: Final Act. I just made it an alternate version.

Sincerely, penpaninu 1/18/2012


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